Neal Adams the legend RIP

Sad to report that iconic comic book artist Neal Adams has passed away. Neal was arguably the first true comic book superstar and will forever be remembered for his work on defining Batman for a generation in the 1970's. As a kid\teenager I considered Neal Adams work and status to be as important and relevant to my teenage ( and beyond) life as the work of music superstars like David Bowie, Marc Bolan, John Lennon Lou Reed, authors like Arthur C Clarke, and sports stars like Pele, Kenny Dalgliesh or John MaEnroe. Below are some of my favourite Neal Adams covers , he was simply the best.

Gone but not Forgotten: Comic book Fanzines

Back in the 1970’s the main way that most of us found out about the latest comic book news was through the editorial pages of Marvels Bullpen Bulletins or DCs Direct Currents pages. However, for those in the know there were also fanzines, homemade fan publications most photocopied or printed on duplicating machines some with print runs of less than 50 copies. Many of these fanzines were created by comic book fans some of whom would eventually become professionals like Dez Skinn, Bryan Talbot, Dave Gibbons and Gary Leach. The above issue of Fantasy advertiser (issue 55) from 1974 was edited by Dez Skinn and the art surrounding Stan Lees face was the work of a young Bryan Talbot. Of course today fanzines are pretty much a thing of the past replaced by websites, twitter and blogs that are able to provide news and updates almost as soon as they are announced. But pre internet any self-respecting comic book fan would find his or her comic book news via the humble fanzine.

My introduction to fanzine was initially through an advert that appeared in the UK comic The Mighty World of Marvel from around 1974 for the above issue of Fantasy Advertiser (issue 53) which I promptly sent away for but sadly it was sold out and my 50p postal order was returned. I eventually picked this issue up a few years ago in a charity shop for 50p. The next time I heard of fanzines was when my brother started work in the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1975 and he told me about a colleague that he worked with that was obsessed with comics and literally spent his weekly salary on buying comics. My brother informed him (his name is sadly now lost to me) that I was a big comic book fan and he very kindly gave me a large pile of fanzines. In a strange turn of events it turned out that the small town we lived in at this time (about 12 miles south of Glasgow) was home to a man that printed quite a few of these fanzines from his house which was only one street away from where we lived. Some of my favourite fanzines are noted below:

Comic Media News issue 27 (1976). CMN was edited by Richard Burton who would go on to edit 2000AD, Tiger etc. This was one of the most professionally produced news fanzines of the time.

Comic Media News issue 38 (1978) with cover art by the great late Gary Leach.

BEM (originally called "Bemusing" ) was another news fanzine which was one of the most popular at the time. It featured details and covers on new comics largely taken from US fanzines like "The Comic Reader" along with some nice fan articles and fan art. BEM was published by Martin Lock who went on to set up Harrier comics in the 1980s, before seemingly disappearing from the comics scene in the 1990s. Above are BEM issue 19 (1978) and issue 22 (1979) with a great cover by the amazing Hunt Emerson.

Thing issue 18 ( August 1975). This was one of the fanzines my brothers work colleague gave to me. Thing was edited by Douglas Gifford and was primarily an adzine that listed 100's of comics for sale in the smallest font imaginable with spot fan art and a few articles.

Arken Sword issue 16 cover by Ron Smith was edited by Paul Duncan and ran for 34 issues ending with a fantastic professionally published book sized edition. Arken Sword was one of the fanzines that went semi - professional for a short period.

Comics Unlimited issue 37. Published by Alan Austin Comics Unlimited (originally titled Fantasy Unlimited), was one of the earliest and longest running UK fanzines its 53 issues spanning the period 1972 until 1983 . Alan Austin also published the very first Comics Price Guide for Great Britain in 1975 which was a much coveted publication to have at the time. Sadly Alan passed away in 2017.

Comix Plus issue 4 (1977). Comix Plus was an interesting and very nicely presented fanzine published by Alan Matheson. Comics Plus (no “x”) started out predominately covering US comics but with issues 4 its focus was largely on underground comix which were starting to become very popular at the time and this was reflected in the change in title to “Comix Plus” (adding an “X” which was very much in the underground mode). Issue 4 featuring another great Hunt Emerson cover was sadly the last issues of Comix Plus as Alan had secured a job (if I recall correctly) working for D C Thomson’s in Dundee.

Speakeasy issue 51 cover by Brian Bolland. Speakeasy ran for a total of 120 issues from 1979 until its demise in 1990. It was also one of the first fanzines to go semi-pro and featured some of Alan Moore’s earliest work on the comic strip "Maxwell the Magic Cat" (which was collected in a four issues series by Acme press in the mid-1980s) written and drawn under the pseudonym Jill de Ray.

My Famous Firsts: Amazing Spider-Man issue 80 - although it was really Pow! issue 1?

January 1967 was a momentous time in comic book history for most kids in the UK as this was when Odhams launched a new comic called POW! to accompany its already successful comics Wham! and Smash! So, what was so special about POW you may ask, well its lead strip was the Amazing Spider-Man, and this would have been the first time that most kids in the UK were exposed to Peter Parkers alter ego. Move forward 3 years to 1970 (it seemed so much longer than that when I was a kid) POW had ceased publishing (around September 1968) and I hadn’t read a Spiderman comic in what seemed like a lifetime (it was probably less than a year) and on a trip to the local newsagents with my family I spy the Amazing Spider-Man issue 80 which I quickly purchase and becomes my first US Spider-Man comic.

The cover to POW! issue 1 – My first introduction to Spider-Man - Cover taken from Wikipedia.

Amazing Spider-Man issue 80 “On the trail of the Chameleon“ was initially a bit of a disappointment to me as I wasn’t a fan of the Chameleon, but I did enjoy the interaction between Peter Parker and Flash Thompson over Peters misunderstanding that Flash was in a relationship with Gwen, and I liked Gwen (I was 10 years old, I didn’t understand why but things were starting to stir!).

The story itself is full of coincidences starting when the Chameleon disguises himself as Gwen’s dad (coincidence 1) George Stacy in order to steal a painting while Peter and Gwen are at the museum (coincidence 2). Long story short in an attempt to steal more money in a sting set up by Peter to catch the Chameleon and clear Mr Stacy of the robbery, the Chameleon makes the fatal mistake of disguising himself as Petr Parker (coincidence 3) and is unmasked by Spider-Man thereby clearing George Stacy’s name. Not a great issues story wise but John Buscema's art and Gwen Stacy more than make up for that.

Although this wasn't the best issue of Spider-Man I console myslef with the fact that my first US Spidey comic wasn't issue 81 with the Kangaroo!

Top Tens: John Buscema covers

John Buscema was arguably the definitive superhero comic book artist of the mid 1960’s through to the late 1970s and beyond. Of all the larger-than-life characters he drew his name will always be associated with Conan the Barbarian and the Silver Surfer but he also produced eventful runs on Spider-Man, The Avengers, the Fantastic Four and Thor. As an artist he was so proficient that it is thought that he drew at least one issue of every Marvel comic during his tenure at the company. Sadly “Big John” as he was affectionally known, passed away in 2002 at the age of 74 and was fittingly buried with an artist's pen in his hand. One of my favourite pieces of John Buscema’s art is the above 1969 cover for Silver Surfer issue 4, possibly one of the most striking covers ever created in comics. It would take more space than I have on this blog to show the best of John Buscema’s work but below are some of my favourites of his many wonderful covers:

Avengers issue 51 from 1968 by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott.

Sub Mariner issue 1 from 1968 by John Buscema and Sol Brodsky. Sub Mariner is a bit of a hidden gem in many ways particularly the first 8 issues which were pencilled by John Buscema. Most of the early series is worth picking up for great art alone by Marie Severin, Gene Colan and Sal Buscema. Cover taken from the Grand Comic Database (I had this issue but gave my copy to a pal years ago).

Conan the Barbarian issue 96 from 1979 by John Buscema.

Thor issue 178 from 1970 by John Buscema and Frank Giacoia. Any cover featuring one of my favourite heroes and my favourite monster villain has to be in any top 10.

Savage Tales issue 1 from 1970. With so many amazing Buscema Conan covers available I had to choose another one this time from one of my all-time favourite Marvel magazine. Cover taken from the Grand Comic Database (the cover on my copy is very badly damaged).

Nova issue 1 from 1976. Cover by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott.

Fantastic Four issue 112 from 1971 by John Buscema and Frank Giacoia. This is one of my favourite FF comics drawn by Big John and Joe Sinnott.

Avengers issue 79 from 1970 by John Buscema and Frank Giacoia. There are of course so many wonderfully iconic Buscema Avengers cover that I could have included like issue 57 "Behold...The Vison" and issue 60 "Till death do us part" (the marriage of the Wasp and Hank Pym) but I really like this one.

Shadows & Light issue 3 from 1998 by John Buscema and Claudio Castellini. I think this may have been the very last(at the time) new comic I bought with John Buscema art. Big John also provided a really nice black and white Hulk tale for this issue.

Comic Book Fight Club: Man-Thing v The Glob!

Let’s face it we all love a good comic book fight scene, after all its usually the climax of any storyline and at the end of the day it’s what makes comic books so much fun. Of course, there have been many great fight scenes throughout the years from Batman getting his back broken by Bane to Spider-Man fighting Green Goblin to the death, but it’s not always the big comic book stars that have the best fight scenes. A case in point is Giant Size Man-Thing issues 1 (1974) written by Steve Gerber with art by Mike Ploog and Frank Chiaramonte. While muck monsters may not be the first characters that come to mind for amazing fight action this one certainly disproves that theory as these two monsters beat seven bells out of each other. I just love the way the artists have captured the sheer size and power of both characters as they slug it out. At the end of the day though it is the Man-Thing that wins and goes through to the next round of Comic book fight club!

Even after all these years I still had a sly schoolboy giggle to myself when reading the title “Giant Size Man- Thing". Still it’s a highly enjoyable book with some classic reprints featuring art by Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby and the legendary “Goom the thing from Planet X”.

Favourite comics: Avengers issue 88 – better late than never!

I first read the above story “The Summons of Psyklop” when it appeared in the Mighty World of Marvel (issue 123) comic back in February 1975. Due to the popularity of the Hulk at this time and with old Greenskin being the headline act in MWOM this story was presented in the UK as a Hulk strip when of course it had originally appeared in Avengers issue 88 some 4 years earlier in 1971. Ever since I read this story it has remained a firm favourite of mine and as such, I have been on the lookout for a copy of Avengers 88…..last week after a mere 47 years I eventually found a nice copy for £5!

The story was scripted by Roy Thomas from an 1,800-word synopsis by SF writer Harlan Ellison which would span Avenger issue 88 (the aforementioned “The Summons of Psyklop”) and the Incredible Hulk issue 140 (“The Brute… that shouted love.. at the heart of the Atom!”) another favourite comic of mine. Of course, when I first read this strip, it was the wonderfully exciting art of Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney that attracted me as to be honest I wasn’t aware of Harlan Ellison’s work as a SF Writer at that time.

The story itself was best summed up in the original Marvel checklist at the time as “A monster from beyond time and space – the final caging of the Hulk and the eeriest war of the Worlds this side of H. P. Lovecraft! Like weird! All I can add to this is that 15-year-old me loved the excitement of Sal’s art, the action, the daft villain, that ruddy massive monster statue and of course that creepy slug. Rereading this comic some 46 years later I was for an all to brief moment in time reverted to my 15-year-old former self, and that slug still got to me! Below are some of my favourite pages from a time when comics could be exciting, fun and a bit daft and yet still be taken (kinda) seriously:

And as for part two of this Harlan Ellison classic story arc, well that's a comic that will no doubt appear in another of my ramblings at some point.